Million Dollar Homes Leading the Foreclosure Market in Major Cities

Housing market is fine.

Might be where you live on surface. Many parts of the country over built with huge estates that are dated and need of upgrades, vacant and the buyers are not out there for this type of property. The future generations needs and wants are different. The vacant mansions are continuing to flood the market in some cities and may never sell even when reduced to the price of a smaller home. Supply and demand. The supply is exceeding the demand and if the seller has a mortgage and another home they are walking away as they are usually older and not concerned with credit. The foreclosure market we experienced in 2008-2012 was primarily lower priced home where investors purchased and fixed up, flipped or rented.This is different. The demand is not there for these large expensive homes . Eventually who will pay for the tear down. This problem is the largest in cities with high property and state tax as many upper end income families leaving the state which accelerates the problem.

Last Edited by BlueWolfeyes on 04/09/2019 12:54 PM

Shall we add granite...

Quartz. Buyers prefer quartz. Granite dated.

California continues to add taxes and buyers still move there. Last year three clients moved out from midwest to California despite all the taxes. Not sure who can continue to afford to stay there.

Last Edited by BlueWolfeyes on 04/09/2019 12:58 PM

what, China dont want million dollar homes?

They are gonna tax everything, water, Soda, Gas, air, junk food, pot

they are going to put toll on highways.


California is toast.

Last Edited by Slowly awakening on 04/09/2019 01:45 PM

People tend to forget about the YEARLY costs of maintaining a home, particularly a "Statement" type of home, when they buy it.

In my Midwestern state the real estate taxes in the great desirable locations are HIGH, which considerably raises the yearly carrying cost of such homes.

Here one need to figure that it will cost you 8% OR MORE of the CURRENT fmv of such houses EACH YEAR (10% is a more accurate number) to pay the taxes, keep it heated, keep it repaired, and keep it updated.

Home worth $1,000,000

*Yearly real estate taxes $40,000ish to $55,000ish/yr depending upon the jurisdiction

*Yearly maintenance including maintenance reserves for replacement of roofs, windows, carpets, wall coverings, etc. $25,000 to $35,000/yr

*Yearly maintenance of pools and hot tub including pool service company and maintenance reserves $10,000 to $20,000/yr (higher number if you HEAT the pool at beginning and end of season - have seen pool heating bills of $40,000/mo!! if heat in winter also)

*Yard service, including seasonal plantings $2,500/yr

*Maid service (who cleans their own million dollar house?) $2,500 to $5,000/yr.

VOILA ... it is EASY to spend $100,000 a year to keep a $1 million dollar home, and TOUGH to get that number below $80,000/yr.

When you BUY a $1,000,000 house, at least around here, you are also buying at least an $80,000 yearly bill to keep that house running.

Last Edited by Midwest Skeptic on 04/09/2019 03:19 PM

5 acres for $10,000 and a $18,000 shed to house conversion. No mortgage. Everything I make is saved. Have more room than a $1,200 a month 1 bedroom apartment.

Fuck the banking system.

Where are you getting 4-5% annually in real estate taxes?

I live in Tennessee with NO state income taxes and property taxes are .4-.5%, not 4-5%. So that's $4-$5k a year. Pool heating bills of $40k/month? WTF---they live in the northern reaches of Alaska?

And the yearly maintenance of $25k-$35k? Again--no. Every 15-20 years you have to put on a new roof but nothing else comes close.

And the Nashville real estate market is red hot----prices still going up.



Last Edited by Billy Ringo on 04/09/2019 03:31 PM

Dealing with real estate taxes for large corporations and a few wealthy individuals is my business ... so I KNOW the effective REAL effective tax rate in many areas around the Midwest and NE, and ALL the areas in my state.

YEP ... real effective Real Estate Tax rate in my state can be astronomical in most of the metropolitan locations where there is a top end public school district (say in the top 200 in the US) or a failing big city school district. (rural areas can be very low - but then again you are going to get crappy beyond crappy schools and education there too) Metro Chicago has nothing on us when it comes to real estate tax rates!!! lol

I am always amazed at how CHEAP the real estate taxes are in much of the country, but alas that does NOT apply here, or the NE, Metro Michigan, Metro Chicago, etc.. (fwiw California has exceptionally LOW real estate taxes)

As for maintenance ... I just saw a $225,000 bill for replacing the windows on a $1.2 million dollar house. Specially made to begin with so needed to be specially made to replace (they are literally falling apart - NO option unless it is plywood over the openings), and house was only 26 years old ... and this was after a $100,000++ roof job. OH ... and the pool and hot tub need another $80,000 to be functional again. Those items alone work out to REQUIRING a reserve of about $16,000/yr and that doesn't count having to redo a kitchen every 15 years or so (maybe YOUR appliances last longer, but most do NOT), replace carpets every 12 to 15 years, replace furniture every 12 to 15 years, paint/re wallpaper or remodel other parts of the house every 12 to 15 years.

Have a "plumbing" or gas line issues that requires your yard to be dug up out to the mains? Whoops that is $8,000 to $20,000 right there (my son's landlord spent nearly $15,000 getting just his sewer line fixed - for a 30 year old $90,000 rental house).

Serious concrete driveway repairs? (million dollar houses do NOT have gravel driveways, and usually don't have blacktop ones either) ... whoops, there goes another $8,000 to $25,000.

I bet YOU have REMODELED your house, maybe even re-landscaped the yard or had driveway work done, and spent some serious dollars doing it ... if you have actually owned it for 20 years!! (that is what "Reserves" are all about)

Maintenance AND RESERVES of $25,000 to $35,000 per year is VERY reasonable for a Million Dollar house.

Add up EVERYTHING YOU spend on a house property over any 20 year span, including any additions, fix ups, new appliances, new carpet, new furniture, new furnace, new hot water heater, new sump pump, etc. in addition to the "unexpected repair bills" and you will start to see your TRUE expense of owning that propery.


Last Edited by Midwest Skeptic on 04/09/2019 04:23 PM

Your low taxes are why your real estate market is "red hot."
Wait until libs move in. You'll be complained to death and your taxes with go up to hire more gov. workers.

Nashville's real estate market is red hot because the city is growing so fast, and those coming from Cali/New York can afford homes multiple times bigger here than from where they came.

My home is 22 years old and we have already replaced the roof and half of our HVAC units---the pro-rata costs that the poster above mentioned is no where close to reality. (Pro-rata in this case means what my cost are compared to a million dollar home for upkeep.)

Glad to hear that you haven't had to replace your kitchen appliances, your hot water heater(s), sump pump(s), furnace, any of your furniture or furnishings, carpets, repainted anything, had any service people to your house for anything, and never had anybody out to redo or fix any plumbing, wiring, or other issues including outside issues (such as new lawn mowers, snow blowers etc.) in 22 years. You must have had an amazing builder and furnished your house with amazing stuff when you first furnished it 22 years ago so that it, and all the stuff required to maintain a house, is now a total time capsule of when you first moved in.

If I ever move to Nashville (which I like) I definitely want the name of your builder and the brand of your appliances etc.!! I haven't seen a house around here that can go that long without having to have a top to bottom redecoration, and some sort of serious repair expense, appliance replacement, hot water /sump pump replacement etc., in order to continue to look fresh and clean and be totally OK.

Last Edited by Midwest Skeptic on 04/09/2019 04:51 PM

The old stuff is the good stuff.
It's the new stuff that requires replacement.
Redecoration is a matter of taste and is non-essential.

Small town south of Houston, TX here...

I have a buddy who just built a 420k home, property taxes just hit 16k/yr.

In my folks neighborhood there's a 12,000 sq/ft house that has a tax appraisal of 1.8 mil, his yearly taxes are 40k/yr.

We have a barndaminium with tax appraisal at 160k we are paying just under 5k yr in property taxes.

Last Edited by Maddrummerboy on 04/09/2019 05:04 PM

Turn them into assisted living spaces, the millennials can sleep in the basement while the elderly and vets are taken care of in the living quarters. Feed the snowflakes Ramen, and the people who they care for get the deserved full course meal, served by the basement dwellers.

$420,000 home with RE taxes of $16k per year is an effective real estate tax rate of 3.8%/yr of current FMV - not far below what we are paying here in the better suburban school districts - and we are known for having higher taxes then TX.

($16,000 / $420,000 = .0380952/yr or 3.80952%/yr)

Last Edited by Midwest Skeptic on 04/09/2019 05:13 PM

That sounds like me.....I'm retiring to the NC/TN area from NJ.....The house I live in now went from 420K to 900K in 10 yrs.....but the property taxes are high in NJ....plus in retirement, I really don't want to deal with ghettoans anymore.....I don't want to live in another city so Nashville is outta the question.....something on the outskirts or a small town works better for me.....

Don't worry, I'm a pro 2nd conservative....lol.....

she said, white quartz for bathroom counters with white marble floor, like in the magazines she said, 6 months ago. 80k later new master bedroom. the market has not changed much in my small coastal town. location is everything sometimes.

that's a great opoprtunity to try "communism", just RENT them via AirBNB for shared living / co-living

u know, like students use to do when go to faculty, but in a more permanent way - anual renting of a room and the rest as shared space

The foretold effects of Globalism years ago.
First, many would be made wealthy from globalism and many would purchase foriegn properties as they have in the USA jacking prices up sky high.

As wages equalize globally, the cheap labor will dry up and everyone will be poorer from the top to the bottom.

Once the baby boomers are all gone, it will lower housing costs even more since the supply will be greater than the demand.

With globalism, say goodbye to the McMansions and hello to cheaper, small energy efficient housing.

Housing is Wayyyyy overpriced in this country and not just on the coast. Compare the wages earned in a year and housing costs per sq foot to from yesterday to today and it is a lot more expensive today.


There are rundown shacks selling for 500k in many places.

With globalist wages the math is not going to work.
Noone will be able to afford it.
People also need to live within their means and not buy these overpriced houses where they will spending 30 years paying it off.


Housing is wayyyyy overvalued in this country.

Thanks for the Heads-up, I'll check that out.

USA is psycho with prices and taxes!

i have a 1.8 million buck house and only pay 3k a year to the council. sad!

California has a surplus of 30 billion, Nice try Retard

[link to www.politifact.com (secure)]

No one can afford a million dollar home except millionaires.

Stove pot fillers. Wine cellars and fancy stoves are also popular.

Wood rot, mold and faulty roofs are a problem.